This invention relates generally to musical percussion instruments and more particularly to a percussion instrument that fits comfortably into one's hand that in its various manifestations can be struck, shaken, scraped, bowed or plucked in many different ways to produce a virtually unlimited array of musical effects.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that percussionists desire the ability to produce many different sounds depending upon the type of the music. To this end, there have been several attempts to provide such a variety of sound. One such attempt is U.S. Pat. No. 4,165,671 issued to E. A. DeBose, Aug. 28, 1979. This percussion instrument has two cylindrical chambers containing beads. The instrument can double as a record stand. Although this percussion instrument is unique, it is limited in the sounds that it can make. The only sound that can be made is by rattling the beads within the hollow tubes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,105 issued to J. E. Salmon on May 26, 1981 discloses a grooved stick that has tambourine jingles attached to it. When a stick is run across these grooves, a jingling and ratchet sound is made. This instrument is very restricted in the sounds that can be made. Further, the instrument is only properly used when shaken or scraped.
The variety of other inventions of rhythm instruments is endless. For example, several use chambers filled with beads. Examples of these are U.S Pat. No. 4,179,973 issued to W. C. White on Dec. 25, 1979 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,306,485 issued to A. Rudkin on Dec. 22, 1981. However, both are limited in the type of noise made. Further, both are limited to shaking.
Others make sounds from being hit. One example of this is the percussion noise maker issued to L. Marks as U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,694 on Apr. 21, 1987. This device has merely two divergent rods hooked together at a base with clapper knobs at the ends. One clapper knob is hit thereby causing contact with the other clapper rod. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 3,439,572 issued to M. B. Cohen on Apr. 22, 1969 discloses an instrument that has a ball which is struck thereby making a rattling sound.
However, all of these prior inventions are limited to either being hit or shaken or scraped. A few combine two of those playing types. None combine all three or offer a wide variety of sounds.